” The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that a former air marshal can seek whistleblower protections for disclosing sensitive information to the news media about the absence of security officers on certain flights.

On a 7-2 vote, the court rejected arguments made by President Barack Obama’s administration, which was seeking to reverse an appeals court ruling favoring whistleblower Robert MacLean, who was fired for the 2003 leak.

” I believe the ruling will give other federal employees more confidence to expose wrongdoing,” MacLean, who was fired in 2006 and now works in residential construction management in California, said in an interview.

The legal question was whether MacLean’s actions may be protected by the U.S. Whistleblower Protection Act, a law that protects employees if a disclosure exposes unlawful conduct, gross mismanagement or threats to public safety.

In an opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts, the court concluded that U.S. Transportation Security Administration regulations that prohibited MacLean’s disclosures did not have sufficient legal force to bar him from receiving protections under the Whistleblower Protection Act.”

” A disease that was once rare in the U.S. is killing Americans, and its rise coincides with the tidal wave of unaccompanied minor children arriving from Latin America under our de facto open-border policy.

The CDC website reports that from mid-August to Oct. 10, the CDC itself or state authorities confirmed that 691 people in 46 states and the District of Columbia had come down with some sort of respiratory illness caused by EV-D68. Five children, including Eli, died from their infections.

It is true that EV-D68 has been in the U.S. at least since 1962. But according to a study done by doctors from the Division of Viral Diseases at the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases published on the CDC’s own website, EV-D68 “is one of the most rarely reported serotypes, with only 26 reports throughout the 36-year study period (1970 through 2006).”

There’s often a disconnect between coincidence and correlation. But we suspect that the jump in cases from 26 in 36 years to nearly 700 in one year coming at the same time as the open-border influx of improperly screened illegal aliens is more than just a coincidence.”

Given the lack of veracity from the present administration regarding just about everything they claim IBD’s conclusion is very difficult to dismiss …

” And after the CDC’s bungling, rethinking and dissembling about the Ebola outbreak, it looks as if we can’t trust anything it says about the origins and spread of EV-D68, either. “

Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said during a telephone press briefing Wednesday that you cannot get Ebola by sitting next to someone on a bus, but that infected or exposed persons should not ride public transportation because they could transmit the disease to someone else.

Gotcha. You can’t get Ebola on a bus or a plane, you can only give it. Good to know. Thanks, Doc.

The Centers for Disease Control is one of those elite federal agencies that people hitherto assumed was, so to speak, immune to the pathologies of less glamorous government bureaucracies. It turns out it’s the DMV with test tubes – just the usual “Sorry? Did we say you need two copies of the green form? We meant you need three copies of the pink form” routine with extra lethality. The Protocols of the Elders of Druid Hills have proved to be boundlessly mutable and mostly honored in the breach:

~Don’t worry, the Protocols are in place – except that Thomas Duncan, the original Ebola patient, was left in an open area of the Dallas emergency room for hours and the medical staff treating him did not have protective clothing for the first two days.

~Don’t worry, they did eventually get fully sealed, protective clothing – well, except for their necks, which remained exposed.

~Well, okay, but that was totally in breach of the Protocols – except that Nurse Vinson called the CDC to check and they said, “Sure, get on the plane. What’s the worst that can happen? And make sure you share the bag of mini-pretzels…”

” Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski had a laugh Tuesday at the expense of Democratic Senator Mark Pryor, who is in the midst of one of the toughest re-election campaigns in the nation.

Pryor failed to give a straight answer to NBC News Political Correspondent Kasie Hunt, who asked him whether or not the Obama Administration was doing an appropriate job of handling the Ebola crisis.”

If you’re a democrat and being laughed at by Mika and Joe you are in trouble and remember , only a month ago Sen. Pryor was an expert on Ebola , laying the blame squarely at his opponent Tom Cotton’s feet …

” The Ebola virus becoming airborne is a possible but unlikely outcome in the current epidemic, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Tom Frieden said Tuesday.

The outbreak involves Ebola Zaire, a strain that is passed through bodily fluids, not the air. But some experts have expressed fear about viral mutations due to the unprecedented — and rising — number of Ebola cases.

” That is not to say it’s impossible that it could change [to become airborne],” he continued. “That would be the worst-case scenario. We would know that by looking at … what is happening in Africa. That is why we have scientists from the CDC on the ground tracking that.”

A change in the way Ebola spreads would make the virus significantly more dangerous. The disease kills roughly half the people it infects, and lacking a vaccine or cure, its traceable chain of transmission through bodily fluids is one reason officials believe they can contain it.”

” Mistakes and missteps in the handling of the first Ebola case in the United States trouble lawmakers, international organizations and some public health experts who say the government needs to step up its strategy to contain the virus.

“ Where is the 1-800-Ebola hotline?” asked Gavin MacGregor-Skinner, an assistant professor of public health at Penn State University who helped set up an Ebola treatment clinic in Nigeria a few weeks ago. “This is a Category 5 hurricane. It just happens to be viral.”

Doctors have diagnosed only one person with Ebola in the United States, but as many as 50 people might have been exposed to the virus in Dallas, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Doctors at Howard University Hospital in Washington are monitoring a patient with Ebola-like symptoms who frequently traveled to Nigeria.

The raging epidemic has overwhelmed weak health systems in the West African nations of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Although hospitals in the United States are better prepared to handle Ebola, travel restrictions or stricter screening of people coming to the United States from Ebola-affected countries might be necessary to curb the crisis, some health monitors said.

“ Unless the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention take extreme measures to prevent the universal spread of the disease, we could possibly end up with a pandemic,” said Phenelle Segal, president of Montgomery County-based Infection Control Consulting Services and a former infection prevention analyst for the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority.”

” September 15, 2014 – Jon Stewart spent the first part of Monday night’s Daily Show trying to sort through the confusion and mixed messaging being sent by the Obama administration on exactly what strategy they’re using (and what we should be calling it) to fight ISIS. Stewart first rounded up complaints from the “coalition of the kvetching” over Obama’s strategy before getting to the fight over semantics on whether the U.S. is at war. Stewart also found it funny that Obama is justifying ISIS action with the 2001 AUMF he actually wanted repealed, which is why he’s so “lucky that Congress never does anything you ask.”

Stewart concluded by pointing out a key difference between the Obama and Bush administrations: the Bush administration was “incredibly disciplined and focused” in doing the wrong thing, while the Obama administration is doing the right thing, but couldn’t be more “chaotic and confused” about it.”

” … it’s not my job to rate the obama administrations actions in iraq. but i will tell you that after 2011 the administration basically ignored the country. and when officials spoke about what was happening there they were often ignorant of the reality. they did not want to see what was really happening because it conflicted with their narrative that they left iraq in reasonably good shape. In 2012 as violence was escalating i wrote a story, citing UN statistics, that showed how civilian deaths from attacks were rising. Tony Blinken, who was then Biden’s national security guy and a top iraq official, pushed back, even wrote a letter to the editor, saying that violence was near historic lows. that was not true. even after falluja fell to ISIS at the end of last year, the administration would push back on stories about maliki’s sectarian tendencies, saying they didn’t see it that way. so there was a concerted effort by the administration to not acknowledge the obvious until it became so apparent — with the fall of mosul — that iraq was collapsing. “

” Is “ignorant” really the best word to describe willful blindness to a politically inconvenient truth? Obama got elected promising to bring the troops home; the only way he could do that without major domestic headaches was to claim that Iraq didn’t need them anymore. So he did, the truth notwithstanding. Imagine how many low-information voters will watch tonight’s speech and wonder where this bolt-from-the-blue known as ISIS came from. Last they heard, Iraq was doing just fine.

You guys know better, though. I’ve linked it more than once before but it’s worth re-reading Peter Beinart’s post from a few months ago about Obama’s history of malign neglect in Iraq. He had one Iraq goal as president — to get out, come what may, just as he promised voters he would do in 2008. ”

” With the ongoing collapse of Iraq, the endgame for the worst foreign policy in American history has begun.

It is no less than astonishing to glance over the foreign policy errors made by the Obama administration since 2009.

● The deliberate alienation of the UK. Thanks to direct and malicious efforts made by President Obama personally (the Churchill bust, Region 1 DVDs), the oldest and most fruitful alliance of the modern age entered into its frostiest period since the Civil War… in the midst of a civilizational conflict in which the Anglosphere comprised the sole serious opposition.

● The deliberate undermining of Israel. Again, a loyal and steady ally was cut off for no rational reason. In this case, a country to which the U.S., as the chief representative of the West, owes an unquestionable moral debt. I guess O was listening to all those Jeremiah Wright sermons after all.

● The dismissal of India. Though generally overlooked, this marks a crucial blow against a future alliance promising profound benefits. The Bush administration put particular effort into widening relations with Asia’s largest democracy. Obama allowed this to collapse, evidently as an insult directed at George W. Bush.

● The abandonment of Africa. Again, Bush did yeoman’s work in reviving American involvement in Africa, an effort that generated praise even from his political enemies. As with India, our first African-heritage president dropped this without even a second glance.”

” What can be done? Very little, at this point. To consider otherwise is to assume that this crew of losers — Obama, Hagel, Rice, Power, and a cast of thousands — can somehow undo what they set in motion through their own stupidity and self-delusion in the first place. (This is to assume that you can attract Obama’s attention without calling airstrikes against every golf course on the planet). With the coming collapse of Iraq, the avalanche is in motion and cannot be stopped. The best strategy is to ride it out and prepare to pick up the pieces.”

Read the whole thing and determine to help get some grown-ups elected in 2016

” The White House inadvertently exposed the name of the CIA’s top spy in Kabul, Afghanistan on Saturday when it gave the press a list of U.S. officials participating in President Barack Obama’s surprise visit to the troops.

The list was emailed on Saturday night to reporters accompanying the president on the trip, and was then included in a pool report written by Washington Post White House bureau chief Scott Wilson. That report was released to more than 6,000 news organizations before Wilson noticed what he believed to be an error.”

Could we possibly be led by a more incompetent group of fools than now inhabit the White House ?

” When these four teens were trying to come up with something to perform in Louder Than a Bomb, a youth poetry festival that reaches teens through after-school programs, they took their task seriously. Through their spoken-word performance of ”Hide Your Schools, Hide Your Homes, Hide Your Children, Cause He’s Wrecking it All,” they unabashedly slammed Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel with a passion you can both see and hear.”

The kids get a standing ovation for their poetry contest performance slamming the incompetence of Obama’s buddy , the mayor of Chicago , Rahm “Mr Wreck It” Emanuel . Below is the complete text of the spoken word poem that comprised Team Englewood’s entry :

Hammer in one hand paint brush in the otherRahm Emanuel is single handedly destroying our cityMr. wreck it Rahmlook what Chicago is becomingbending the rules to fit in the lie of building a new Chicagobuilding new streetswhen his own plan got some pot holes

Tearing down our dreamsits getting really windy in these streetsRed X’s mark the spots where his wrecking balls are next to drop

We are not included in the Blue Print of the New Chicago: we’re being pushed outour buildings transformed into condos – and we know those AINT FOR USThermal shock is setting in from the whipping wind of the heartless sinsof the mayor

Norfolk Railroads is pushing us southern folk outHomes replaced with tracksthat will be laidwhere our heads used toIf dry wall could talk it would speak many prayers to keep our homesnow vacant lots that hold lots of remnantsof 60 years of backyard barbequesbaby showersand when electric sliding was the super power of the summer55th and Normalwe are losing all of this

Torturing, tormenting us as we choke on the ashes of our memories*Cough Cough*Let’s hope we don’t get sickBecause he’s closing all our clinicsHe needs to get treatedAnd then maybe we can sew back on the other half of the middle finger that he has been giving us

Its almost as if he’s E Manuel of E-LiminationExportation!Extermination!Eradication!

Step one: Take away our schoolsStep Two: Put them out their homeLastly: Destroy it all and Deny Deny DenyBut remember, to always keep a straight face when you lie!

Try to pour the cheap paint over our eyes while stealing dollars from under our mattresses There’s not enough? Close their schoolsBut he’s building a new DePaul stadiumUsing our TIF funds to Transform the South Loop into the Promised Land of redevelopment and some river walkof course downtownThe paint is starting to streak.Building a new Chicago or extending a new lie!How can a city so in debt blueprint something so expensive?

The paint is cracking:From every west side basketball brotherhoodTo south side sisterhood bonds through pom-pomsAnd every poetry team that had dreamed of being on this very stagehas been ripped apart,Goodbye

Bad foundation for our future generationsstruggling with 40 students in one classso they learn from the streetsThere’s not money for our schools, but, there’s enough to build a New Chicago But that New Chicago is NOT for us.The paint is wearing thin and so was our patienceIrreparable damage has already been done

Time to stop the destruction of OUR cityPrevent the further corruption of our already twisted politics of Chicago

25% of Chicago school children won’t amount to anything 255075100% sure that we will be something See Rahm we are mathematicians your lies are adding upand this new Chicago is just another one of them “

” Personnel records of a Euharlee police officer involved in a deadly shooting show that she was repeatedly reprimanded over her 10 years on the job in Acworth.

Gatny worked at the Acworth Police Department for 10 years prior to that and personnel records indicate that she was written up and suspended a number of times for various infractions.

In a timeline, her supervisors say she “refused to follow orders” on everything from filing paperwork to carrying her walkie talkie.”

” Other details:

Gatny was involved in four car accidents in two years.

In 2007, she reportedly “left her duty belt, along with her weapon..with a civilian employee” while she had her picture taken with someone.

In 2008, while confronting three suspects, she fired her service weapon. An internal investigation found the suspect was trying to remove his backpack. She was convinced he was going for a gun, but a fellow officer said he never thought the suspect was armed.Internal Affairs concluded she should not be punished because the initial call for service said the suspects could have been armed. “

This woman had a known history of insubordination and incompetence yet continued to be employed as a police officer . How many others are out there with her type of record and how many police departments are hiding and/or protecting these unqualified individuals ?

The “blue wall of silence” is deadly to the public yet it persists even when a fellow officer is willing to buck the system and speak the truth as in the 2008 shooting in which she was cleared by her peers as are most all of the police’s actions everywhere . Something needs to be changed in entity that is allowed to investigate and exonerate it’s own . Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

” Gatny was ultimately fired from the Acworth Police department for failure to report to work. She started requesting time off for medical reasons, but eventually used up not just vacation, but more than a month of family medical Leave. Her superiors said they could no longer hold her position open for her.

Records show Gatny tried to get disability, but the insurance company said her claim was “not medically supported.”

Even through a career of wrecked vehicles , shameful firearms handling , insubordination and repeated reprimands the officer was only fired because her superiors said they “could no longer hold her position open for her.” Sounds like the postal service … but with guns and dictatorial powers . Shame .

” For the first time, more Americans think President Barack Obama is not respected by other world leaders than believe he is. Americans’ opinions have shifted dramatically in the past year, after being relatively stable from 2010 to 2013.

The results are based on Gallup’s annual World Affairs poll, conducted Feb. 6-9. Although opinions about a president’s perceived world standing often track with his job approval rating, a majority of Americans still thought world leaders respected Obama in 2010 and 2011, when his job approval was similar to what it is now. Thus, the recent decline may be more tied to specific international matters from the past year, such as the revelation the U.S. was listening in on foreign leaders’ phone calls, the situation in Syria, increased tensions with Russia, and an uneasy relationship between Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”

All we can say is “What took so long?” The MSM has lost it’s mojo and can no longer keep the present administration’s incompetence under wraps . It’s about effing time . People are finally starting to pay attention . Too bad he gets another three years to continue the destruction of America .

” In January 2013, the Milwaukee Journal Sentineldropped a bombshell report showing ATF Agents who attempted to set up a storefront in the city, ended up damaging the building, owing the landlord money and lost a machine gun on the streets after it was stolen out of a government vehicle.

But the effort to date has not snared any major dealers or taken down a gang. Instead, it resulted in a string of mistakes and failures, including an ATF military-style machine gun landing on the streets of Milwaukee and the agency having $35,000 in merchandise stolen from its store, a Journal Sentinel investigation has found.”

” When the 10-month operation was shut down after the burglary, agents and Milwaukee police officers who participated in the sting cleared out the store but left behind a sensitive document that listed names, vehicles and phone numbers of undercover agents.

And the agency remains locked in a battle with the building’s owner, who says he is owed about $15,000 because of utility bills, holes in the walls, broken doors and damage from an overflowing toilet.”

” Despite ATF’s claims these were isolated incidents, they weren’t and now, Senator Grassley and Chairman of the House Oversight Committee Darrell Issa have sent a letter to ATF Director Todd Jones demanding answers about how many times these tactics were used around the country.”

Senators Grassley and Issa are demanding answers from Todd Jones , head of ATF .

” According to the letter, ATF has failed to be forthcoming with information about the cases.

” The continued lack of accountability at ATF is disturbing,” the letter states, adding that many of the agents managing these cases have been promoted. “Around the conclusion of Operation Fearless in the fall of 2012, ATF management promoted Bernard Zapor, the Special Agent in Charge during the pendency of Operation Fearless, to ATF headquarters as Deputy Assistant Director of the Office of Field Operations — Central Region.”

More obfuscation and prevarication on the part of the “most open , honest and transparent” administration ever .

It’s always a bad sign when your nation’s chief diplomat begins a process of tough negotiations with some brutal authoritarian adversaries by protesting his non-stupidity. Then again, we’ve reached the point where even Parisian socialists feel the need to remind the U.S. Secretary of State of certain undeniable geopolitical realities on the ground. So here we are, seriously entertaining what the French Foreign Minister rightly warned could be a “fool’s bargain” with Iran.

Attention last week was focused on the failure of the Western powers to reach an interim nuclear deal with Tehran. That was the potential deal that made the French nervous. The bigger picture, however, is the broader set of negotiations over the coming months and their implications for American national security.

If Iran actually were to agree to a complete and verifiable dismantling of its nuclear weapons program, stop enriching and reprocessing uranium, shut down key facilities, and ship out all related materials – in full cooperation with international inspectors – then, of course, this would be most welcome. But there is little prospect of this kind of cooperation, or of this kind of deal. Iran hasnever even admitted that it has a nuclear weapons program, and it has been regularly mendacious about the true extent of its uranium enrichment facilities. This is not the behavior of a country simply looking for the peaceful use of nuclear power … or of one willing to give up the bomb. “

Washington (CNN) – ” President Barack Obama’s approval rating among American voters has dropped to its lowest number in Quinnipiac University polling since he became President, according to a survey released on Tuesday that also raised new doubts about trust.

As Obama juggles the bungled rollout of HealthCare.gov and questions over his initial promises about health care reform become magnified, only 39% of voters approve how he is handling his job, while 54% disapprove, the new data from the school’s Polling Institute shows.

According to the poll, a majority of voters, 52%, say the President is not honest and trustworthy, compared to 44% who say the opposite. It’s the first time in Quinnipiac history that the president’s trustworthy numbers are underwater.”

The Kool-aid is finally wearing off and the public , despite the media handmaiden’s best efforts , has begun to see the nakedness of the emperor.

” While the President has a positive rating, 52%-42%, for how he handles terrorism, he gets negative ratings on foreign policy, immigration, the federal budget, and the economy. A majority of voters, 53%, say the Obama administration has not been competent in managing the U.S. government, according to Quinnipiac.”

The real question is , if such a large percentage of the population disapproves of the way Obama has handled the economy , foreign policy , spending , healthcare , immigration and just about every other major policy issue and find him untrustworthy to boot , why does he still have a positive rating ?Anyone ? We have a theory . What’s yours ?

” The D.C. press corps was giddy last night, declaring that the fiscal crisis had ended. Senators praised “honorable friends” from “great states,” congress members gave standing O’s to their stalwart leaders, and the president saluted bipartisanship while ridiculing Republicans, bloggers, activists and pretty much anyone else who dared oppose him.

To help visualize how up the creek we find ourselves, I created an infographic.”

” Irrational situations provoke irrational responses. Ted Cruz may not have mapped out a winning strategy to end Obamacare, but he energized millions of Howard Beales yelling, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.” “

” After weeks of a dysfunctioning website and mass derision, the Obamacare exchange woes are only starting as some are now giving insurers the wrong date on patients. And the trouble isn’t over.

One technology expert claims the faulty sites, which cost nearly $400 million to build, were made on ten-year-old technology that will require constant fixes and eventually the entire system will have to be overhauled.

A technology expert said the flaws could do lasting damage to the law if customers are deterred from signing up or mistakenly believe they have obtained coverage.

John Engates, chief technology officer at Rackspace, told USA Today that recent changes have made the system easier to use, but they still require clearing the computer’s cache several times, stopping a pop-up blocker, talking to people via Web chat who suggest waiting until the server is not busy, opening links in new windows and clicking on every available possibility on a page in the hopes of not receiving an error message. “

” In the latest bout of brilliance handed down from the Transportation Security Administration, more frequent fliers and other elite passengers will soon be eligible for something called “expedited screening benefits.” Features include special screening lanes and the luxury of not having to remove your shoes and belt like a common terrorist.

OK, all of that is rather uninteresting—unless you’re the kind of person who thinks programs like the Cedar Point VIP Tour are grossly classist.* (I do.) What’s interesting about TSA Pre✓™—which launched on a small scale in 2011 but is now expanding—is that it’s nearly impossible to go directly to the website by typing in the site’s Web address—because the checkmark and trademark characters are actually part of the URL.”

” When I took Hillary Rodham Clinton to task in January for the mishandling of security in Benghazi, Libya, I told her that if I had been president at the time, I would have relieved her of her post. Some politicians and pundits took offense at my line of questioning.

During those hearings, I reminded Mrs. Clinton that multiple requests were sent to the State Department asking for increased security measures. I asked if she had read the cables from Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens asking for increased security. She replied that she was busy and had not read them. I find that inexcusable.

Four months later, we are hearing that Mrs. Clinton allegedly withheld information from a counterterrorism bureau during the response. We are hearing new allegations that Special Forces wanting to respond during the attacks were told, “You can’t go” by superiors.

The secretary of state’s responsibility is to protect our diplomats. Mrs. Clinton should have been relieved of her post for denying pleas for additional security. Almost 20 years ago, President Clinton’s secretary of defense was relieved of his post for a similarly bad decision.

In early October 1993, a battle between U.S. forces and Somali militia in Mogadishu left 18 Americans soldiers dead, 80 wounded and two American helicopters shot down. Today, this is remembered as the Battle of Mogadishu or more popularly, “Black Hawk Down,” thanks to a subsequent movie of the same name.”

State Dept "Contractors" Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods

While we are comparing politicians Clinton and Aspen’s actions and noting similar incompetence displayed during American foreign policy disasters there is another similarity between the two events . This parallelism however, instead of reflecting a common theme of political incompetence , involves America and American’s at our/their finest .

However, the FBI did not know of Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s trip to a region of Russia dominated by Islamist violence, The Hill reported, because an airline misspelled his name on a flight manifesto given to the U.S. government.

“Yes, the system pinged when he was leaving the United States. By the time he returned, all investigations — the matter had been closed,” Napolitano said.”

” Under a bipartisan Senate framework, Democrats say, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano would have final say over whether the border is secure enough to put 11 million illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship.

If Napolitano does not provide the green light for putting illegal immigrants on a pathway to citizenship, the responsibility for judging whether the metrics for border security have been met will be given to her successor.”

This is a bipartisan solution to illegal immigration ? What on earth is wrong with the GOP ? Spineless , panderers … Losers and destined to remain so without a backbone among them .

Like we said yesterday … an Oscar-worthy performance from the woman who would be King

I was listening to Glenn Beck today, and he was reciting something he was told by one of his many confidential informants within our government, military and intelligence communities. Apparently, this informant told Beck that Hillary Clinton showed obvious signs of having been coached in counter-interrogation techniques. This would also explain why she was held out of the public domain for so long – supposedly for “medical reasons.” You might want to do a little reading on this subject:

In short, it is all about delay, divert and then seize control away from the interrogator. This is why she avoided answering direct questions, feigned emotional responses and faked her anger: she was trying to delay, divert and seize control. It was all a rehearsed act, which leads us to this: